


A Hell of a Halloween

by IJM



Category: General Hospital
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-01-04 00:21:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21188432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IJM/pseuds/IJM
Summary: Franco/Drew rejects Kim after learning what she did to Drew. Kim takes issue with his rejection.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not for profit.  
For entertainment purposes only.  
Other characters used to be named later.

Franco who identified himself as Drew watched Elizabeth, Cameron, and Scotty leave the courtroom, defeated and clearly upset. Elizabeth gave him a longing glance, but she said nothing. He could tell she felt broken and it bothered him. The judge had ruled in his favor, or what he went into the courtroom _thinking_ would be his favor. Now, he felt like he had lost something.

“I can explain,” Kim told him, reaching for his arm.

Her jerked away from her. “I don’t want you to explain. Future Drew Cain, the man I was, didn’t want to have a baby with you and you drugged him. This Drew Cain that I am now might have loved you, but you used Franco’s body. I guess any man will do?”

“You _are_ Drew Cain,” Kim insisted. She looked unraveled—not just her appearance, but her expression as well.

There was something about Kim drugging the previous Drew Cain that enraged the past and current Drew Cain, maybe unreasonably so. He had a gnawing feeling that he should have protected the other Drew somehow and that he had been personally violated.

It didn’t make much sense in the context of believing that he was Drew Cain. He was unaware of the other Drew when this thing happened. But there was an anger that felt like it was brewing in his belly… a protectiveness of _himself_?

“I don’t want to see you again,” Franco told Kim. “I don’t know if I’m Drew or Franco or no one at all anymore. But I can’t and won’t leave here with you—not the courtroom and not the city of Port Charles.” He walked away from her without a glance back, despite her tears. He could be every bit as cold to her as he had been toward Elizabeth.

When Franco left the courtroom, he saw Monica waiting for him. He was desperate when he approached her. “Ma’am, I hate to ask you for anything, but I can’t be around Kim. You mentioned a while back that I was welcome at your home. I don’t want to impose, but if I could just stay a few days while I find a job and an apartment…?”

“Of course, you can,” Monica told him. “You’re a Quartermaine. You don’t have to look for an apartment. Or a job, for that matter.”

“I’ll find something,” he assured her. At that moment it dawned on him how difficult it would be to find employment. Even if he could call himself Drew Cain, Drew’s ex-wife wasn’t going to let him return to Arora. In fact, _he_ had never _been_ at Arora. That was the other Drew Cain. He had no business experience whatsoever.

His body was now too old to reenlist in the service and no government agency would accept that Franco’s face had Drew’s mind. In fact, they might see him as a security threat. His skill set would be appropriate for law enforcement, but he would never be allowed to work in law enforcement with Franco’s criminal record—tumor or no tumor. He had no desire to be a mob enforcer like his overprivileged, ungrateful twin brother. 

Maybe he hadn’t thought this whole thing out very well. He had been so insistent on proving that he was Drew that he hadn’t given proper weight to the consequences. Kim kept _telling_ him he was Drew. He was looking at life through the lens of a younger man with a world of possibilities. He had seen Kim when he left that hospital room and grasped onto his memories of her. She was the only familiar thing he had, and he thought he would collapse and disappear without Kim to cling to, keeping him alive.

But now that he knew Kim was predatory… it changed things.

Franco realized he was now thinking in terms that Drew was a different person, even if Drew was the only identity he could remember. Something was breaking inside of his mind.

Monica also insisted that he was Drew and he wondered if she was as crazy as Kim. At least she considered him a son. She wouldn’t want to bed him. He couldn’t wrap his mind around why the tryst with Kim was now making him feel sick. He wanted it, didn’t he? _Did he?_ He shook away the thoughts to thank Monica for her generosity.

“I’ll call ahead and have the maid prepare a room for you,” Monica told Franco. “I’ll have a driver sent to the Metro Court to pick up your personal effects. And, of course, we can get you whatever you need. I understand why you’re hesitant to be around Kim. I never would have thought she could do such a thing.”

“It’s confusing,” Franco said. It was the only statement he could commit to under the circumstances. “I appreciate everything, Monica.”

“Please, if you want or if you can, call me _Mom_. That’s what you called me before.”

“Um… okay,” Franco agreed. _Before… when I was in another body?_ He asked himself. _This is crazy_. He didn’t know this woman. He didn’t have a relationship with her. He didn’t have a mother, not anymore… not in a very long time.

Franco internally struggled with his situation. It was as though scales had fallen off his eyes. He should have listened to Elizabeth and Scotty. He hadn’t given them a chance because he saw them as a threat, not realizing he was fraternizing with the true threat. He wondered if he chased down Elizabeth if she would forgive him and help him figure out what to do next. But, what would he say? He didn’t have Franco’s memories. He couldn’t _be_ Franco for her and that would only break her heart even more. No, he needed to regroup and staying with Monica would give him a few days would let him do that.


	2. Chapter 2

Franco was in his bed, just thinking. He found it hard to sleep, hearing music coming from the ballroom at the Quartermaine mansion. Monica was holding a costume party fundraiser for the hospital to support breast cancer awareness. To Franco, the idea sounded like adults getting to go trick-or-treating for champagne and mixed drinks as opposed to candy. He had no interest in being there or being paraded around as the new Q. He could tell by the way that his “cousin” Ned and his wife Olivia looked at him, they thought Monica had lost her mind.

He very much felt like an unwanted guest, except from Monica who was a little too doting for his liking. He had been there just a few days, and he was sure he didn’t fit in with this family. He asked to not sleep upstairs, but rather downstairs in the guest quarters. He promised Monica or “Mom” that he would consider changing his mind, but he didn’t want to make Ned and Olivia more uncomfortable with his presence. Unfortunately, this put him closer than he wanted to be to the loud music and the party he was to avoiding.

Drew had never celebrated Halloween. Children in group homes didn’t go on adventures to neighborhoods to ask for candy. No one bought them costumes or caramel covered apples. It was just another day.

With his eyes closed, he had the sensation that Franco liked Halloween when he was a kid. He liked dressing up. He liked pretending to be someone else so that he could hide. He also didn’t have any opposition to candy. It wasn’t a memory so much as a feeling. He didn’t know if it was coming from Franco somewhere inside of his mind or if it was just his assumptions based on what he knew about the man whose body he had overtaken.

He saw a little boy with brown hair, peeking out of a closet. “Get in here,” the boy whispered. Drew thought they were playing a game. The brown-haired boy held his finger to his lips. “Be quiet. Don’t make a sound,” his voice was soft. 

Drew nodded. There were children’s shoes at the bottom of the closet. He moved some to have a comfortable place to sit. The brown-haired boy sat as close to the wall as humanly possible. He had a blanket with him and covered himself up and he also used it to cover Drew. Drew thought they were making a fort.

“Bobby!” he heard a man calling. The brown-haired boy inhaled sharply. Drew could tell his entire body had become tense. The boy was frightened.

“Bobby!” the man repeated. “You better come out from wherever you’re hiding. You know what will happen if you don’t.”

The brown-haired boy pushed away his part of the blanket and got Drew’s attention. He silently pointed to him sitting on the floor and did a zipper motion over his lip as if to say, “Stay there and be quiet.” Drew didn’t know why he obeyed, but he did. The boy pulled the cover back over Drew’s head. Something told him the other boy was his friend, his best friend.

Then he _was_ the brown-haired boy with the man. He slipped open the closet door just a bit and went outside to the man.

“Sparing Andy for another night, are you?” The man asked. “You’re a good brother, Bobby. Now, come be a _good boy _ for Uncle Jim.”

The man took his hand and led him toward the bed. He was terrified but resigned that something horrible was going to happen.

Franco awoke in a panic. He hadn’t realized he had fallen asleep. He was more panicked when he realized his arms were restrained. At first, he thought of waking up in the mental hospital when Elizabeth had him committed. But this was no hospital. He had no memory of how he got to this place or who had restrained him.

As his eyes gained better focus, he saw there was another person in the room. She had her back to him, but he recognized the long strawberry-blonde hair. _Kim_. He had been refusing to answer Kim’s calls or texts since the hearing. Apparently, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Where am I?” he asked.

Kim turned around. She was wearing a white dress from whatever costume she had worn to the party. He didn’t know what character—if any—she was supposed to be. He was out of touch with current pop culture.

“You _are_ home,” Kim answered.

The way she said it made him cringe. “My home is not with you and never will be.”

“You’re wrong, Drew. You belong with me. Look at the measures you took to get back to me.”

“I didn’t cause any of this,” he told her. “Franco sacrificed his life for his kid.”

“But we’re together now.”

“If you think I actually want to be with you, why am I tied to the bed? Were drugs not enough for you?” His tone was scathing. He wasn’t sure how this small woman had managed to drug him and get him out of the Quartermaine house on her own, but he could tell from the way his head was pounding that she had used chemicals in the process. “Where am I? How did you get me here?”

“I had help, of course. Someone out there knows that we deserve to be together and he arranged this.”

“Someone from the Halloween party?”

“That gave him an opportunity to get to you.”

Now he wished he had gone to the party so he would have an idea of who was on the guest list.

“Where am I?”

“Where you belong.”

“Stop talking that nonsense, Kim. I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong with you. I don’t want to be here.” He pulled against his restraints, but his efforts were futile.

“Calm down,” Kim told him.

“You drugged me and kidnapped me and tied me to a bed. And you tell me to be _calm_? Where am I?” He yelled at her.

“Somewhere that no one will come looking for us.”

He looked around the space. It was small and sparsely decorated. He listened closely. There were no sounds of traffic. There was nothing distinctive in the sounds other than the lack of them. It stood to reason that they were in an isolated location. The size of the room he was in and the open spaces between the kitchen, living, and dining areas led him to the idea that he was in a cabin, probably in the woods or in the mountains. Kim had a fire going in a fireplace, but the room was still cool.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” he announced. Anything to get those restraints off.

“No, you don’t,” she told him. “You’re lying to me.”

“I just woke up. I always have to pee when I wake up.”

“You’re lying.” She looked at him with a hint of anger. “_Don’t lie to me_!” she raised her voice. She glanced to the side of the bed.

He was appalled. She had used a catheter. With that revelation came the revelation that she had undressed him while he was drugged. Had she had sex with him while he was unconscious? How long had he even been unconscious? Drugging him and moving him to this location took time—but how much? Did anyone know he was missing? He couldn’t tell if it was daylight or dark outside and even if he could, that wouldn’t reveal much since it was deep into autumn, and the daylight hours were dwindling.

“What did you do?” he asked her, feeling queasy.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Kim told him. “I’ve only done what I had to so you will remember how much you love me.”

He swallowed, deciding that saying nothing was his best option. She didn’t appear to have a grasp on what was right or wrong. She thought she was entitled to what she wanted.

Kim approached him and laid down on the bed with him, putting her hand over his heart. “We are going to be together now, my love.”

He wanted to tell her that he didn’t want to be with her. For now, he was immobilized, and he was going to have to figure out how to get away from her.

She kissed him and he jerked his face away from her. “Get away from me,” he growled. “I don’t want to be with you.”

Kim got out of the bed. She picked up a porcelain trinket that was on a shelf and threw it across the room. It shattered when it hit the floor. “Do not lead me on!” She yelled. “You said you loved me, and you wanted to be with me. Then you abandoned me. I will not lose _you_ too. You came back to me and I’m going to keep you.”

“I’m not a cat,” he told her. “I left you for a reason. If I wanted to come back to you, I would. _I don’t_.” He made his position clear. He didn’t care if this woman snapped and killed him. He would not lay in this bed while she pretended that they were long-lost lovers in a great romance novel.

“You don’t know what you want,” Kim held a damp cloth over his mouth and nose. He uselessly tried to pull her away from him or to turn away from her, but whatever was on the cloth was powerful. It made his world go black all over again.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth and Scotty walked into the PCPD station together. Harrison Chase called them both mid-morning and asked them to meet him there.

“Mrs. Baldwin, Mr. Baldwin,” Chase greeted them as they approached him. “Come with me,” he told them as he led them into the interrogation room.

“Are we being interrogated?” Scotty asked.

“No. Well, a little. But in the sense of seeing if you can help us identify someone.”

“What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked.

“Last night, the Quartermaines had a fundraiser at their home. Franco—Drew—yeah, I don’t know what to call him—is staying there.”

“His name is _Franco Baldwin_,” Elizabeth sternly corrected Detective Chase.

“Franco was abducted during the party.”

“What?” Elizabeth gasped. She wondered why this was the first she was hearing about it if he had disappeared the night before. She _was_ still married to him.

Chase continued without responding directly to her question. “However, whoever did it was sloppy. They obviously don’t know that the home has an updated security system with closed circuit cameras in hallways and open spaces. And they dropped this at the scene.” He pointed to a white rag in a zippered plastic bag.

“What is that?”

“It’s soaked in chloroform.” Chase told her. “They also left Franco’s phone, wallet, shoes… all his personal affects. So, it’s obvious that he didn’t leave of his own accord, even without the footage.”

“Who’s on the camera?” Scotty asked.

“That’s why I called you in here. There are two figures, they appear to be males, but they are in costume. We can’t get a good look at their faces.” He played the video of the footage of two costumed individuals entering the bedroom and leaving a few minutes later with Franco, who they were supporting, but he was clearly unconscious. They slipped out a back door. Party guests had been coming and going all night, so they blended in with the other figures who had been seen in the hallway during the party.

Chase pulled up another video which showed the two men putting Franco into the back of a sedan and leaving the estate. “We’re trying to find an ID on the car, and we have technicians checking street camera footage for the vehicle.”

“Where’s Kim Nero?” Elizabeth asked, upset by what she had seen. Of course, her first thought went to Kim. Though she was not on friendly terms with Monica, the woman told her a few days prior that _Drew_ was staying at the Quartermaines because he had rejected Kim after finding out what she did to _Drew_.

Elizabeth thanked her for the information and walked away, stopping herself from asking Monica if she realized she sounded like a lunatic.

“We haven’t been able to locate Dr. Nero. A judge issued a warrant for her apartment and it’s basically abandoned. There are some boxes, but it’s clear she hasn’t been there in several days.”

“Find Kim and you’ll find my husband.” Elizabeth told him, panic rising in her chest. Knowing that he had rejected Kim had been satisfying for Elizabeth. Now she feared that he was in more danger than when he thought he loved Kim.

“What about these men?” Chase asked. “Do you have any idea who they might be? Does anything seem familiar?”

Scotty shrugged. “Those videos are not very good quality. Couldn’t the Q’s afford a better surveillance system? I don’t see anything distinctive.”

“I was afraid of that,” Chase told them. “I think these are hired professionals. They mingled with the crowd at the party. We have uniforms out questioning guests. I don’t think anyone who was there was the type to get his own hands dirty. Do you have any idea if anyone other than Kim Nero has an interest in abducting Franco?”

“Jason wanted to know something about Drew’s past,” Elizabeth offered. “But he has no reason to kidnap someone from his mother’s home. Unless he was planning to torture him for answers.”

“I’m loathe to defend Jason Morgan, but he would be aware of the security system. He probably had that weird little friend of his install it.”

“Damien Spinelli?” Chase asked.

“Yeah. He’s a freaky little goofball.” Scotty told him.

“That’s a good thought,” Chase said. “You’re right. We’ll see if we can get Mr. Spinelli to enhance the images or find anything specific.”

“Have you checked the footage from the party to see if those two are talking to any particular guests? Find out who they spoke with,” Scotty suggested. “I imagine anyone who hired these people would have been at the party to make sure things went as planned. Since it was sloppy, there’s a good chance that he or she was sloppy about talking to the goons inside the ballroom.”

“Yes, we do have technicians going over party footage looking for these two interacting with each other and other guests. It’s a slow process. There were five camera angles in the ballroom.”

Scotty sighed heavily.

“What is it?” Elizabeth asked, sensing his anxiety.

He shook his head.

“Scott! What is it?”

“Stupid crooks are dangerous crooks. I’m afraid they would hurt Franco if he was uncooperative… and he’s been known to be uncooperative. Now with this Drew military persona in his scrambled brain, he’s going to think he’s younger, stronger, and quicker than he actually is.” He saw the crestfallen expression on his daughter-in-law’s face and apologized. “I should have kept that to myself, not reacted.”

Elizabeth attempted a smile. “One thing about Baldwin men is certain—you don’t know how to hide your emotions.”

Scotty shrugged. She had both him and his son pegged there. “Is there anything else we can do?” he asked the detective.

“Not right now. Thank you for coming in.”

“Keep me updated,” Elizabeth told him. “I am still Franco Baldwin’s wife and that man is still Franco Baldwin. I am his next of kin. Not some lunatic trying to replace her dead kid. Or some _other_ lunatic trying to replace her dead kid either.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Andy, Andy, you have to go to the basement,” Drew was dreaming about the brown-haired boy again. “I don’t want to go,” he protested. “Go! Just go,” the boy told him. “You have to.”

Drew protested again. He heard a door slamming close by. The brown-haired boy panicked. “Go!” He reached out and pushed Drew and Drew went tumbling down the stairs.

Then he _was_ the brown-haired boy again. He was shaking Andy and begging him to wake up.

The bad man was there. “Look what you did, Bobby! Look what you did!” The man’s eyes were cold and vicious. The man was much bigger than he was, and he was angry. He knew that the man was dangerous and violent when he was angry.

“It was an accident,” Bobby told him. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.” Bobby was terrified. Everything about the situation was akin to being trapped in hell.

“There are a lot of things you don’t mean to do, but you do them anyway. You’re lying. You always lie. Wait until your mother finds out. You’re going to pay for this, Bobby.”

“Just help Andy,” Bobby pleaded with Uncle Jim. He heard a scream and his mother was rushing down the stairs.

“What happened?” she asked. She checked Andy’s pulse.

“Bobby pushed him,” Jim told her. “I saw him do it.”

“Bobby, what have you done?” Betsy asked. “How could you do this?”

“It was an accident,” Bobby told her. “I wasn’t trying to hurt Andy. I would never hurt Andy.”

“He’s liar. He always lies,” Jim told Betsy. “I told you he was bad seed. I’m going to call an ambulance. Bobby, you better come with me so you can’t do any more damage.”

He looked at his mother, “Mom, please let me stay with Andy.”

“Go,” Betsy told him. “Do what Uncle Jim tells you. You know better than to disobey.”

Bobby was crying as Jim practically dragged him up the stairs by his arm. “It was an accident,” he repeated. He was terrified that he had hurt Andy and he was terrified of the consequences. His heart was racing, and he had trouble breathing.

Franco woke up in the middle of a panic attack. It wasn’t made better when he realized he was still restrained to a bed. It was even worse realizing that Kim was in the bed with him and they were both naked.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” she asked. “You were having a nightmare.”

He looked away from her, sickened when he thought of what might be happening while he was unconscious. He said nothing. He had been trained by the military. All he had to give an enemy was his name, rank, and identification number. 

He winced as Kim ran her hand over his chest. “Tell me what you were dreaming about, baby. Who’s _Uncle Jim_?”

The way she touched him was too much for him to ignore. “_You are_,” he spat his answer. But he had no idea why he said it. It didn’t make any sense at all.

“What?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I was dreaming about. Get off me.” He spoke to her in a flat, direct order.

Kim became angry again. “You will _not_ tell me what to do.”

“I’m clearly at a disadvantage since you have drugs, restraints, and medical equipment.” Drew didn’t hide his hostility toward her. “What is your goal here?”

“You’re going to love me again.”

He thought better of replying. She was crazy if she thought this was the way to his heart.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered, hoping she would undo the restraints so he could feed himself.

“I’ll make us a nice, big breakfast.”

“Is it morning?” Having gone through a second unspecified period of unconsciousness, he was losing his sense of time.

She shrugged. “Breakfast has always been your favorite meal.”

He watched as she put on a robe and went into the kitchen. The bitch was keeping days and times secretive on purpose. She was trying to confuse him. She wanted him to be reliant on her for everything. She wanted to break him.

She turned on a CD player and his ears were accosted with some of the worst music he had ever heard. It was mostly pop hits from the 1990’s—all of which made him want to puke.

“Don’t you have any better music?” he asked.

“You like these songs,” she told him. “This is a CD you made for me. I listen to it over and over.”

“God, please spare me,” he cried desperately as _More Than Words_ started playing for the third time as she hit repeat. She was obviously a big fan of that one.

“I don’t understand,” Kim said. “You loved these songs when we were together.”

“If I _had_ any self-respect, it’s gone now,” Drew answered her. Surely, he had not loved these songs. They were horrendous, cheesy love songs with bad lyrics. They were the kind of derivative songs that would stifle anyone’s creativity. He couldn’t imagine painting with this collection of trash playing.

_Wait, why was he imagining himself painting anyway?_

Maybe _Franco _hated pop ballads.

“_God, turn it off_!” he yelled. He was sure this was some form of torture designed to aid her in breaking his spirit. If he remembered correctly, the US military had used repetitive metal tracks in warfare.

_Or maybe that had been Barbra Streisand. Why would I know anything about Barbra Streisand_, he asked himself.

“My ears are going to start bleeding. Is it not torment enough that you have me naked, drugged, and tied to a bed? For the love of all things holy, make that stop!”

Kim turned off the CD and frowned. “You’re acting very strangely,” she chastised him. Her voice was soft and calm.

“Yeah, _I’m_ the strange one here,” he told her, his words dripping with sarcasm.

“I concede that your musical tastes could have changed. What would you like to listen to?”

“White Zombie. Disturbed. Rammstein. Godsmack. Dope.” He answered. Then he realized he had no idea _who_ those bands were or even if they were _real _bands. When he was deployed, most of the music he heard was in the country genre. His brothers in arms appreciated the sentiment and patriotism prevalent in that style.

“I don’t know those bands,” Kim said. She stopped working the kitchen and went through her phone. She appeared to be typing the names into a search engine. “I found a playlist with some of those names in it.”

“Play it.”

Kim was taken aback by the fast, heavy, aggressive metal that was coming from her phone. “You _like_ this?” she asked.

“War is hell,” Drew answered. The truth was Drew had been taken aback momentarily as well when he heard a lyric that clearly demanded the listener to _Die Motherfucker Die_ but watching how it made Kim uncomfortable gave him some joy. Drew knew that these names were given to him by Franco’s memories. He could almost grasp what it felt like to be in an art studio, frantically creating a work on canvas while this kind of music shook the walls. 

It was unsettling to know that Franco’s memories were creeping through into his thoughts. At the same time, he felt like he wasn’t alone fighting to survive and be free from this woman. It was like having an imaginary friend on his side… or a brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am switching between using “Franco” and “Drew” purposefully. Sorry if it’s confusing.


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth and Scotty found themselves back at the police station. Scotty sat drumming his fingers on a desk while Elizabeth paced.

Chase and Jordan Ashford were in the process of interrogating Peter August. Elizabeth knew better than to think Jason was trying to help _her_ or _her family_ but was aware that he had put the police on the trail of Peter’s involvement with Franco’s disappearance.

Jason shared with the police that he suspected that Franco held information from Drew’s life that would be damning to Peter and was pointing the finger at Peter being ultimately responsible for the attack on Andre, Drew’s plane going down, and Sam being in prison.

Based on Jason’s tip, the officers going through the surveillance tapes were able to pinpoint their search for Peter August in the crowd and he was spotted with the two men who abducted Franco several times. It was enough evidence to call him in for questioning.

Chase came out of the interrogation room. “He gave us the names of the men who took Franco. And, better, he gave us an idea of the location.”

“What is going on? Why is he involved in this?” Scotty asked as he stood up.

“Franco’s memories of Drew’s life could implicate Peter. He offered to help Kim get Franco out of town in exchange for the promise that she would never return or let him return.”

Elizabeth ran her hand over her face, horrified by the idea that she may never see Franco again. “Where are they and why aren’t we on our way?”

“It’s out of our jurisdiction,” Chase told them. “But Commissioner Ashford has already contacted authorities in that jurisdiction. Our tech guys used the approximate location to ping Kim Nero’s phone. She got sloppy and left it on, so we have her exact location.”

Chase saw how upset Elizabeth was. “It’s a good thing, Mrs. Baldwin. They can get there a lot faster than we can. They’ll find Franco and take Kim into custody and then transfer her back to Port Charles.”

“I need to be there,” Elizabeth told him. “He needs to know that I haven’t abandoned him.”

“Where is he?” Scotty asked. “Just tell us. We’ll find him ourselves.”

“I can’t do that,” Chase responded. “I can’t put you in danger.”

“Take them to Franco,” Jordan told Chase. She had just stepped out of the interrogation room. “No matter who he thinks he is right now, Elizabeth needs to be there when they find him and take him to the local hospital.”

Elizabeth felt like something inside her was dying. “Why are you so sure he’s going to the hospital?” her voice shook while she spoke.

“We received a report from GH while investigating Dr. Nero’s last known whereabouts. There were items and medications stolen from the hospital that it appears that Dr. Nero took to… prepare for whatever she’s doing.”

“Tell me,” Elizabeth demanded. “What does she have?”

Jordan was hesitant to share the information with Elizabeth because of the implications.

“_He is my husband_!” Elizabeth raised her voice. “You may recall I married him right here with bars between us while you falsely held him accused of murders he didn’t commit, coerced him into confessing, and then nearly got him killed because you didn’t tell or _let him_ tell anyone what was going on.”

Jordan appeared as if she might actually care about what happened to Franco for a change. “She has anesthetics, fertility drugs, lubricants, um… performance enhancing drugs, antibiotics, anesthetic gels, catheter supplies…”

Elizabeth closed her eyes, getting a clear picture of what was happening. “Stop,” she told Jordan as she began to cry. “He can’t go through this again. You know his history,” she told Jordan. “You know what he’s been through.”

Jordan nodded. “I’m so sorry.”

Scotty wrapped his arms around his daughter-in-law.

“I wish he hadn’t rejected her,” Elizabeth told Scotty through her tears. “He doesn’t deserve whatever she’s doing to him.”

“Please take us to wherever he is,” Scotty asked Chase, trying to keep his emotions in check for Elizabeth’s sake.

“He could die!” Elizabeth told them all. “How much do you think one human body can take in a year? He’s been stabbed, had major surgery, had this experimental brain thing… he even had a cold and it might not seem like it matters, but it does. _It matters to me_.”

“I know, honey,” Scotty tried to comfort her. “Let’s go. Detective Chase is going to take us to him.”

A state trooper from New Hampshire called Chase over his radio less than half an hour into their high-speed transport. “We have apprehended the suspect and are transporting the victim to the closest regional hospital.”

“How is Franco?” Elizabeth asked. Her already broken heart crumbled even more when he was referred to as _the victim_.

“Can you give me a status update on Franco Baldwin?” Chase asked. “I have his wife and father in the car with me on our way there.”

Elizabeth grabbed Chase’s radio and spoke into it. “And his wife is a nurse, so don’t you dare hold back like he just implicated for you to do.”

Chase was caught off guard but smiled. Franco Baldwin was a lucky man to have a woman like that love him so completely. Meanwhile Scotty patted her shoulder from the backseat. “That’s my girl.”

“Mr. Baldwin was… restrained and unconscious. According the paramedic in charge on the scene, he was running a very high fever. Low blood pressure. Rapid heart rate. Dehydrated. Hives.”

“Sepsis.” Elizabeth concluded.

“Thank you,” Chase told the officer.

“Sepsis?” Scotty repeated. “Are you sure? That’s really serious isn’t it?”

“Yes. That’s what it sounds like. And Kim probably realized he was sick, gave him Ciprofloxacin, and made it worse because he’s allergic to that antibiotic. But she wouldn’t know that because she’s not _anything_ to Franco and doesn’t give a damn about his medical history.”

“He’ll be at a hospital soon,” Chase assured her.

“Will it be soon enough?” she asked. Her question left the men in the car silent.

Elizabeth stared out the window, watching blurs of fall colors as they sped down the highway, lights flashing. At least with Chase in the driver’s seat and the police lights, they were making record time. She would be reunited with her husband in a few hours… if he lived that long.


	6. Chapter 6

_We are not friends. I am not here to protect you_; Drew told the man who had the face and body that he now claimed as his own. Instead of seeing the face of the man he was talking to, he saw his own surgically reconstructed face, as if he were listening. They were sitting in a car together. He snatched a rabbit’s foot away from him. _Where did you get this thing anyway_?

_You gave it to me when we were kids_, Franco told him.

Then Franco left to put a listening device in Jim Harvey—_Uncle Jim_’s—hotel room.

_You know, Bobby, I can tell it stuck with you all these years, that sting of never getting Betsy to believe you._ Uncle Jim’s words were hurtful and now Drew knew why. He understood the secrets between Franco and Uncle Jim because he realized that Franco was Bobby. He was repulsed and sad that he didn’t understand what was happening when he was young.

Drew continued to have flashes of his life. Only it was the life that had never known because it was the other Drew’s experience. He saw everything about himself from Franco’s point of view. _Here we are again, just the three of us. Just like old times_, Jim Harvey said. The man was pure evil.

He was with Franco whom he realized was Bobby and they were in a trapped in a basement. They were swimming through a sewer, and he was leading the way as a much stronger swimmer.

Uncle Jim was choking him and the next thing he knew, he was looking into his own face and down at the body of the man who had tormented them both.

Franco and Bobby… they were one and the same. _Betsy told me what he did to you and how you protected me,_ the other Drew told him. He reached out and touched his brother in his memory.

As he did, an overwhelming pain shot through his brain. He wasn’t Drew Cain or Andrew Frank. He was Bobby Frank… who was now Franco Baldwin. Franco hated his own name Bobby so much that he refused to use it anymore. He spent his life running from the child that was Bobby.

Drew found himself in a dark space, with just a stream of light breaking in from overhead. Franco Baldwin was standing in front of him. _You’re Bobby? My brother Bobby? _

Franco nodded.

_You protected me all those years ago._

He nodded again. _I’ve been trying to protect you now, from Kim. All those times you were dreaming about the brown-haired boy, it’s because I was reliving the past. Because of Kim_.

Drew winced, realizing that the times he was unconscious Franco might have been aware of what he could only suspect was happening.

_I can’t believe I ever loved her. I can’t believe I used you to be with her and now… what she’s been doing. It’s disgusting. I don’t understand though, why were you protecting me when I kept trying to shut down every part of you? _

Franco shrugged. _It’s my job to protect you. You’re my brother_.

_You’re a good brother, Bobby. Much better than I have been to you. I have to go, Bobby. I shouldn’t have overpowered your memories or taken over your life. It was a mistake. Will you forgive me_? Drew knew he was going to cease to exist. He was at peace with it.

_You’re never going to cease to exist,_ Franco told him. _You’re always going to be in my heart because you’re my brother and I love you_.

Drew was surprised that Franco had read his thoughts.

_We’ve been sharing a brain, remember_? Franco laughed at his surprise.

_I love you too, Bobby. Go back home to your family. They need you. He reached out and embraced his brother. Don’t forget me_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession: I made myself cry. And my evil streak hopes you did too.


	7. Chapter 7

Elizabeth was asleep in the ICU waiting room of a small hospital in a mountainous region of New Hampshire. Despite being a nurse herself, she was only allowed to see her unconscious husband during limited visiting hours. The ICU waiting area had been designed to accommodate long-term visitors. It had recliners, big chairs, tables, and areas that were clearly set up to meet the needs of waiting families. There was even a room to shower.

Her sleep was fitful, but exhaustion had won over. Scotty watched over her protectively. His son had to come back for this woman. She deserved to be loved as much as she loved.

Scotty’s expression darkened when he saw Laura and Kevin arrive with Elizabeth’s children, Cameron, Jake, and Aiden. It wasn’t his ex-wife or the children that made his blood boil, it was Kevin, the psychiatrist that had undermined his attempt to have Franco declared incompetent. If Elizabeth had been given the power to make his medical decisions, he wouldn’t be hovering on the brink of death right now.

He stood and walked briskly to meet them. “Elizabeth is sleeping. Please let her rest.”

“Of course,” Laura said.

Cameron hugged Scotty. “How’s Franco?”

Scotty shook his head. “Honestly, it’s pretty bad. Let’s go talk over here. Kevin, stay with Jake and Aiden.”

“We want to know what’s going on,” Jake said.

A stern look from Scotty ended his attempt to follow them.

“They need to talk about grown up stuff,” Kevin said, come sit with me, okay. “Be very quiet. We don’t want to wake anyone.”

Scotty led Laura and Cameron to the farthest corner he could find from Elizabeth.

“How bad is bad?” Laura asked.

Scotty inhaled sharply. “Look, kid, I wanted to give you the opportunity to make your own decision. You’ve got high stakes in this. I don’t know about overstepping boundaries that your mother might set though.”

“I saw those men destroy Franco’s brain right in front of me,” he reminded the man that he had come to respect a great deal in the past few months. “I want to know whatever I need to know to help my mom and to help my dad. He’s the only real dad I’ve ever had. You know what that’s like.”

Scotty nodded. “Yes, I do. Laura, what do you think?”

“Cameron is practically an adult. He heard Kim’s testimony. He’s not clueless.”

Scotty sighed. “That loon was still determined to make a baby. He’s got an infection that entered his bloodstream and it’s caused a condition called sepsis. It’s serious. He was in critical condition when he was brought in. In addition to restraining, drugging and… _assaulting_ him, Kim tried to treat his infection with an antibiotic that he’s allergic to. There was a cocktail of prescription drugs in his system along with anesthetics that she had him knocked out with. Her… _abuse_… and her methods of holding him prisoner caused the infection. And, I’m not going to lie. He would have died if the paramedics had been a day later. He could still die.”

Scotty saw that the news was crushing to Cameron. He put his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “He’s a fighter, Cam. He’s been fighting his whole life. Baldwins are stubborn as mules. He won’t give up on trying to get back to your mother—or to you. You know how much he loves you and your brothers, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do,” Cameron said through tears. “It’s my fault that all this happened. I tried to buy the stupid pot and got community service and I tried to help that psycho Shiloh and—”

“Stop it,” Scotty told him. “You made a mistake trying to buy pot to help your friend who had cancer. You did the right thing, trying to help a man that you thought was injured. You didn’t know he was dangerous, and you had no control over what happened after that. You’ve got to stop blaming yourself.”

“Listen to your grandpa,” Laura said, cementing the growing relationship between Scotty and Cameron. It was a fitting twist of fate…forty years later, she and her first love shared grandchildren after all.

“I’m not trying to make this about me,” Cam told them. 

“We know, sweetheart,” Laura offered a comforting hug. “Everyone plays the _What If_ game in their mind when bad things happen.”

“Scott?” Elizabeth called, waking up, feeling a bit disoriented. She was surrounded by her family in minutes. “Oh my god, why are you all here?” she asked, her mind jumping to the worst- case scenario. Is he okay?” She sat up quickly, feeling a little dizzy from the quick motion.

“He’s still unconscious.” Scotty told her. “Your boys and Laura wanted to be here for you.”

Elizabeth was overcome with emotion. She pulled all her boys in for one giant hug. “I love you guys.”

“We know,” Aiden said. “How’s Franco?”

“Really, really sick,” Elizabeth told him. “But he’s in a good place and the doctors and nurses here are doing everything they can to help him get better.”

“Does he remember us yet?” Jake asked.

Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know, baby.”

She shared another hug with Cameron. He had been a rock for her throughout this ordeal. Just hugging her strong, brave, loving child eased some of the incredible burden she felt. “You boys should go to a hotel with Laura and Kevin. And, Scott, you need some rest too.”

“I’m not leaving,” Scotty told her emphatically. “Not for a minute.”

“Me either, Mom.” Cameron was determined. “I’m going to be here for Franco when he wakes up. Or… for you… if he doesn’t.”


	8. Chapter 8

Elizabeth and Cameron put on face masks, protective gloves, and yellow gowns to cover their bodies before they went into Franco’s room in the ICU. Scotty insisted that Cameron took his usual place visiting along with Elizabeth. Jake and Aiden were disappointed to learn that they were too young to be allowed in the ICU.

Unlike Cameron, Elizabeth was unfazed by the procedures or the equipment that was helping save Franco’s life. Cameron had never seen someone he loved this sick before.

Elizabeth checked all the numbers to see how Franco was progressing. She listened when his doctors and nurses spoke, but she wanted to see and gage his progress for herself. Some doctors would gloss over things for the sake of families to try to keep their hope strong.

“He looks really bad,” Cam said.

Franco’s complexion was pale. There were dark circles under his eyes. Bruises and lacerations were on his arms where he had been restrained and fought the restraints. An IV drip was in his right arm near the bend of his elbow. The lines were fastened to his flesh with a blue mesh tape that stuck to itself rather than to the skin. A blood pressure cuff was on his left arm. Machines kept track of his temperature, blood pressure, oxygen, heart rate, and respiratory rate.

“How is he?” Cameron asked.

“Improving,” Elizabeth answered. You may find it hard to believe, but he looked worse than this the first time I saw him.

“How could a doctor do this to someone?” he asked.

Elizabeth shushed him. “Don’t remind him. Tell him you’re here. Let’s talk to him.”

“What good will it do?”

“It doesn’t matter who he thinks he is, he knows who we are; and he needs to know someone is pulling for him to recover.”

Cameron nodded. He moved closer to his stepfather. “Um… hey…. This is Cameron. I’m here. I want you to get better. I want you to come back and be my dad like you promised.”

Elizabeth was on the other side of the bed, holding his hand. Cameron saw that and he took his other hand in his own and gave it a squeeze. “Mom is here too. She’s been here for two days, ever since they found you. She really loves you; you know. She wants you to live and be healthy and be happy. And she wants that even if you don’t want to be with us. I’m not as unselfish as she is because I want you to come back to me. I don’t want you to get better and then go away so that I never see you again. You promised you would come back.”

Cameron was startled when he felt pressure on his hand. “He squeezed my hand!” he exclaimed. “Mom, did you see that? Maybe he’s listening.”

Tears were in Elizabeth’s already bloodshot eyes. “It’s a good sign.”

“Mrs. Baldwin.”

She looked up when the attending physician got her attention.

“I need to speak with you about a sensitive matter.”

Elizabeth gave a patented Mom Look to her eldest. “I’ll go back to the waiting room,” Cam volunteered. He pulled back the sheet surrounding the bed to leave and pushed it back into place. But he didn’t go back to the waiting room like he said he would. He wanted to know what his mother was dealing with next so he could help her.

“The paramedics and police on the scene reported that your husband was a victim of sexual assault. We need to do a sexual assault forensic exam within a certain window of time. If he remains unconscious, we will need you to make the decisions.”

Elizabeth nodded and decided not the muddy the waters by telling this doctor that a judge in New York had revoked her medical power of attorney. Evidence was crucial to ensuring that Kim was held responsible. She said a prayer that Franco would wake up and speak for himself.

“The course of treatment for his infection required that we clean and treat particular wounds. Given that he was unconscious we did the best we could to preserve evidence allowable under our codes for handing victims.”

“What kind of evidence do you have so far?”

“We catalogued injuries. We had to take blood and urine samples to determine a course of treatment. We had to do that to determine what is in his body so we can counteract it. We need to photograph injuries. There is a potential that some evidence was destroyed in treatment prior to your arrival.”

“Detective Chase went to the scene and he told me that the local officials took photographs and collected clothing, bedsheets, drugs, medical supplies, and the restraints she used. Surely there will be DNA somewhere in all that. She was trying to get pregnant, so we know she didn’t use any kind of protection.” Her stomach turned at the thought of Kim possibly succeeding in her selfish mission.

“And for that reason, we have to start prophylactic care as soon as possible. I’m not comfortable introducing those medications into his system until the other drugs have cleared out and his vital statistics are back within a normal range. I have been monitoring Mr. Baldwin closely. I suspect that he will regain consciousness within a few hours. I have a nurse who specializes in this area on stand-by to talk with him and with you when he does wake up.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Could I please stay with him? He responded to our son. I feel like if I could just talk to him…”

“Sure,” the doctor agreed. “This situation was calculated and evil. I hope your husband recovers fully—physically and emotionally.”

Elizabeth sat down in a chair beside Franco’s bed and held onto his hand. She knew that Kim had done horrendous things to him, but hearing a doctor speak to her about in terms of evidence collection, treatment, and a forensic exam made the weight of the ordeal heavier. She put her head down bed beside Franco’s hand and openly cried. He was unconscious, but he was safe. She was alone with him and she could finally let her emotions take over.

The fingers running through her hair didn’t immediately catch her attention because they were familiar and gentle.

“Elizabeth, baby, what’s wrong?” Franco asked. “Why are you crying?”

His voice startled her. “Did you call me _baby_?”

“Honey? Wildflower? My Little Gopher?” he offered alternative pet names.

“Franco!” Elizabeth was both smiling and crying. “Do you remember me?”

“Of course, I remember you,” he answered her. He was groggy and his thoughts were fuzzy. “Cameron?” he tried to sit up. The monitor indicated a spike in his heart rate. “Cameron! They had Cameron. They…”

“He’s fine. He’s fine,” Elizabeth repeated. She rubbed his chest in soothing circles. “They didn’t hurt him. You saved him.”

Cameron rushed into the room. “I’m here,” he told his stepfather, grabbing onto his hand. “Do you remember me? Do you need anything? Can I help?” He had been waiting awkwardly outside, not sure if he should let his mother have a good cry that she probably needed or intervene.

Franco had barely moved from his pillow, but he collapsed back into it. He closed his eyes. Elizabeth was concerned about his shallow breaths. “Are you having trouble breathing?” She heard a faint whistling in every exhalation, saw his blood pressure was dropping, and his heart rate was dropping. She looked to her son, “Cam, get a doctor. He needs a dose of epinephrine.”

Cameron didn’t make it around the other side of the sheet before a doctor and nurse were in the room responding to the emergency indicators. He ordered a small dose of epinephrine, just as Elizabeth suspected was needed.

“He woke up and said a few words,” Elizabeth told the doctor as they watched his numbers stabilize.

“Did some kind of emotional stress trigger the physical symptoms?”

“Yes. He seemed to think he had just woken up from that illegal, experimental procedure I described to you. He thought Cameron was in danger.”

The epinephrine worked quickly, and Franco started to become cognizant of his surroundings again. His eyes went straight to Cameron. “Cam.”

“Do you remember me?” Cam asked fighting back tears. He held tightly onto his stepfather’s hand, begging some unseen force to make Franco remember him and love him again.

Franco nodded. “You’re safe?” He had to ask. Just seeing the young man wasn’t enough to convince him nothing horrible had happened.

“I’m safe because you took my place.”

“I love you. I will always choose to protect you.”

“I love you too,” Cam replied. “I really, really do. I’m sorry I was such a jerk.”

“The fact that you love me enough to tell me is everything,” Franco said, making Cameron feel something he never had before, secure in a father’s love.

Franco surveyed his surroundings. He deduced from the protective clothing everyone was wearing that he was in ICU. He requested water because his mouth was dry.

“I’ll find some,” Cam volunteered.

After he left, the doctor asked Franco, “We would like to swab your mouth for evidence before you drink anything if you will consent.”

Franco looked to Elizabeth.

“Do you remember where you’ve been?”

Elizabeth watched every nuance of his face as he remembered Kim Nero holding him hostage. She saw him look at his wrists as if he were checking to see if what he was remembering was real. He looked back at her.

“It’s up to you,” she told him. "Every bit of evidence will build a stronger case against her. You don’t have to consent to anything, though.”

He blinked rapidly. “Go ahead,” he said to the doctor.

The nurse opened a drawer in a stand that was near his bed, removing an evidence collection kit.

He felt like his stomach was doing flipflops. “Hurry, before Cam gets back.”

“My name is Sophie,” she told him. “I’m here to help you in any way I can.

He opened his mouth for her, feeling an intense shame. The shame was far too familiar a feeling that he had known most of his life.

Cam walked back in just as Sophie was bagging the oral swabs. He looked at them and then at Franco. His eyes were troubled. Cam didn’t acknowledge what he had walked in on. “Is it okay for you to drink some water?”

Franco reached for the bottle. Cameron twisted off the cap and handed it to him.

“Don’t drink too fast,” Elizabeth cautioned him. “It could make you nauseated.”

“I already am,” he said, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

The doctor put his hand on Cameron’s shoulder. “Son, you should go wait with your family. I’m sure they will be happy to know your dad is awake and alert.”

He looked at Elizabeth who nodded for him to do as the doctor said.

After Elizabeth made sure Cameron left the ICU hallway this time, she asked the doctor, “What do we do now?”

“Only what Mr. Baldwin consents to. I’ll let Sophie explain more about the process. I need to check on some other patients.”

Sophie was a pretty young lady in her mid- to late twenties. She had long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing bright blue scrubs. Her blue eyes were kind and her approach was gentle. “I work with survivors of assault,” she started to explain. “Women, girls, boys, and men too. You may have a lot of questions about how this process works and I will answer everything that I can. I can also call in a counselor if you want. Your wife can stay with us or you can ask her to leave. My goal is to make what can be a long, unpleasant process as easy for you as I can.”

Franco studied her face and her eyes. She was sincere. She did want to help him. “Kiki,” he said softly.

“I’m sorry?” Sophie asked, not quite understanding what he meant.

Elizabeth squeezed his hand, knowing exactly what he saw in this kind, beautiful, young nurse who wanted to make the world a better place.

His eyes teared up. “You remind me of someone.”

“Kiki?” Sophie repeated.

“My sort-of daughter. She was murdered about a year ago. She was in med school. She was sexually harassed by one of the doctors that supervised her, but she stood up to him and took him to court for herself and every other woman—ever other victim—no matter how much scrutiny she went through. She was judged. Her life and mistakes—which, believe me, were minimal compared to mine—were brought up in the press and the court. And in the end, she lost the case, but she made our hospital a safer place for everyone.”

Sophie smiled. “It sounds like you were very proud of her.”

He nodded. “She would tell me to consent to whatever it is that I have to do to let you get the evidence you need.”

“I understand that you want to make your daughter as proud of you as you are of her, but you know, it’s still your choice. I want to hear your voice.”

He looked at Elizabeth and squeezed her hand. “I consent to the evidence collection exam.”

“That is a difficult, but incredibly brave decision,” Sophie told him. “I’ll need you to sign an initial consent form and I need you to initial here that you understand that you can revoke your consent to any step or the entire exam at any time.”

He nodded as he scratched his name onto the form with a blue pen. He thought about Scotty always having a blue pen with him because he needed blue to sign all his legal documents. He initialed the box she indicated. He wanted to see his father and thank him. Scotty had really gone to bat to keep him around. Scotty really did love him.

Sophie explained the forensic evidence collection in more detail. He listened to her, but he watched Elizabeth. His wife was a rock. He would be more emotional than she was if their roles were reversed. She was remaining strong to encourage him.

But he also knew she was near breaking. Her sobbing had brought him back from wherever that place was where he was sharing headspace with Drew. “It’s okay to cry,” he said to her.

Elizabeth smiled. “Of course, it’s okay to cry,” she told him. “You’ve been through hell.”

“I meant you.”

Elizabeth inhaled sharply. She touched his face and studied his green eyes. She tried to smile to encourage him, but felt her lips contorting in such a way that she knew she would eventually give in and let go of the tears. There were so many tears to be shed over his identity crisis, Drew’s fight to destroy Franco’s existence, his abduction, the abuse he had been through at Kim’s hands, and his brush with death.

“When this is done,” Elizabeth started. “I’m going to crawl into that bed with you and we’ll both cry ourselves out, okay? We have to get through this first.”

“You’re the strongest, bravest, most amazing person I have ever known,” Franco told her. “I love you so much.”

“I feel exactly the same way about you.” Elizabeth steadied herself, feeling relief wash over her body and soul. Her Franco was back. They had been through hell to get there, but he was back, and she would never let him go again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of feel like this is an appropriate place to end, or I could keep going and involve the rest of the family. Decisions. Decisions...


	9. Chapter 9

“Why were you gone so long?” Jake asked Elizabeth when she returned to the ICU waiting room. Scotty, Laura, and Kevin seemed to be aware of why she had spent hours with her husband instead of the usual thirty minutes.

“Franco woke up… and great news, boys! He remembers us!” Elizabeth put a smile on her face and focused on the one thing that would make her family happy.

“Can we see him?” Aiden jumped up, ready to bust down the doors standing between him and the only dad he clearly remembered.

Elizabeth grabbed Aiden’s hand to keep him from running. “No, sweetie. You’re too young to visit the ICU, remember? Franco said to tell you he loves you and misses you and he can’t wait to be well enough to see you.”

“Why is he still in ICU if he woke up?” Jake asked. He looked worried. Jake could tell his mother was hiding something, pretending to be happier than she was.

“Well, honey, he’s still very sick.” She sat down and pulled Jake to her and let him sit on her lap, even though he would normally say he was too big for that. “I know you’re worried and you miss him. But he remembers us and he’s getting better. So, let’s focus on that.” She looked to each of her boys for an affirmative response.

Cameron was biting his lower lip. He had seen Franco and couldn’t help but wonder how he was going to cope with what Kim had done to him.

Elizabeth gave a special nod to Cameron, then looked to Scotty. “He wanted me to thank you for fighting so hard to help him get back. He feels bad for how Drew treated everyone.”

“Wait… are you saying he knew what was going on? Drew kept saying Franco was gone.”

She nodded. “He said he was aware of things happening but couldn’t control what Drew said or did.”

“That sounds horrific,” Laura gasped. “Someone else controlling everything you do and say?”

“What brought him back?” Kevin asked.

“None of your damn business,” Scotty snapped at Kevin. “I don’t know why you insist on being here. If you hadn’t said he was competent on the stand, none of this would have happened.”

“Scott, Kevin is my husband and Elizabeth is like my daughter.”

“Elizabeth is like my daughter too!” Scotty argued with his ex-wife.

Elizabeth laughed, probably harder than she should have because she was so tired.

“Mom, what’s funny?” Cameron asked, worrying about her odd reaction.

“My mother and father haven’t been around in twenty years and now I have two of Port Charles’ finest citizens fighting over me. It’s kind of flattering.”

Scotty wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. “You deserve the best of everything and any father or mother who would abandon you is a _moron_.”

“Honey, that’s something Scott and I definitely agree on.” She joined Elizabeth and Scott in a hug.

“I think everyone probably needs to go to the hotel and get some sleep and have a good meal,” Elizabeth suggested.

“Are you going to the hotel?” Scotty asked skeptically. He already knew the answer.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Neither am I,” Scotty told her.

“Neither am I,” Cameron added, resolved to be there for his family every way that he could.

“Yes, you are,” Elizabeth directed. “You need to rest. You need to relax and come to terms with Franco being back and that he’s going to insist on protecting you, not letting you wear yourself down trying to protect us.”

“But—”

Cam earned himself another Mom Look.

Relaxing with the knowledge that his family was going to be back together did sound appealing. He hadn’t had a decent night of sleep in months. “Okay,” Cam agreed. “I’ll go with Grandma and get some rest. When are _you_ going to rest?”

“I’ll be fine here. With any luck, Franco will be moved to a regular room soon.”

The group exchanged hugs as they said goodbye, aside from Scotty and Kevin who exchanged barbs.

“If Franco needs to talk, I’ll be happy to visit with him,” Kevin offered.

“Stay away from _my kid_!” Scotty raised his voice. “You’ve done more than enough damage.”

Laura grabbed Kevin’s arm. “Let’s go,” she told him. “Everyone’s emotions are out of control right now.”

“I am in _perfect_ control of my emotions,” Scotty corrected her. “I just happen to be angry. Anger _is_ an emotion, right Doc?”

Elizabeth and Scott sank into chairs next to each other after the others left the waiting room.

“Shoot me straight,” Scotty told his daughter in law.

“I hope the forensic evidence will put Kim behind bars for the rest of her life. I’m just afraid…” she left her sentence hanging.

“That she’s pregnant?” Scotty asked.

“That was her goal.”

“How is my son handling that?”

She picked up her purse and looked for the charger for her phone, anything to keep from looking at Scotty. “He retreats into his own mind, I guess. The nurse would explain what she needed to do and why. He’d consent to most of it and then… _check out_.” She felt a bitter sting in her chest. “The nurse told me it was normal for a person to distance themselves from the examination. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. I guess being passive like that is like riding a bike.” It was a horrible comparison to make to a person feeling violated, but she realized that was what was happening. “If you do it enough, it becomes easy.”

“I will destroy her,” Scotty said aloud, punctuating each word with his anger.

“You can’t prosecute this case,” Elizabeth reminded him. “First of all, we’re in New Hampshire.”

“I can consult.” Scotty was already making notes on his phone that he wanted the prosecutor to address.

“I hope she takes a plea,” Elizabeth responded.

“But that would mean a lighter sentence.”

“It would mean Franco would not have to get in front of a room full of people and talk about what she did.”

Scotty sighed. “Yeah, there’s that.” Considering what Karen and Franco had been through when he wasn’t around to protect them hurt his heart.

“What is she being charged with?” Elizabeth asked him.

“I don’t know. But there’s a guy who can tell us.” He saw Detective Chase enter the waiting room with a local police officer. “Let’s find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few people asked me to continue because they wanted to see Franco interact with the rest of the family and/or find out what happens to Kim. So, I'm glad to oblige! Thank you for reading!!


	10. Chapter 10

“I don’t think now is a good time for questioning,” Elizabeth told Chase and Detective Sullivan.

“Mrs. Baldwin,” Emily Sullivan started, “The nurse let us know she had forensic evidence. I know your husband has been through a hellish ordeal, but we need to get a statement as soon as possible.”

“What are you charging Kim Nero with?” Scotty asked in a low voice. The visitors were attracting interest from other patients’ waiting family members.

“The forensic evidence will help us determine exactly what charges should be filed. For now, she’s been charged with first degree kidnapping, assault and battery, and medical assault. She has been informed that other charges are pending.” Chase explained. “If we have a solid list of charges, it will be much harder for her to get bail or ROR when she is arraigned.”

“I thought she was being sent back to Port Charles. First degree kidnapping alone can carry a twenty-year sentence. She crossed state lines and has shown she has the resources to be a flight risk.”

“Both states will be filing charges against her.”

“You’ll have to discuss speaking with Franco with his doctors,” Elizabeth conceded. The detectives were simply doing their jobs, though she did not support their timing. “You will not risk his health to strengthen a case.”

“And I will be present during any questioning.”

Chase explained to Detective Sullivan, “Mr. Scott Baldwin is Franco Baldwin’s father and an attorney.”

“Your son is being questioned as a witness only. He doesn’t need a lawyer.”

“I contend that he _always_ needs a lawyer when speaking with law enforcement.”

“And a dad,” Elizabeth added. Franco could handle giving a witness statement without Scotty, but she loved Scotty for fighting to protect her husband.

To Elizabeth’s dismay, Franco’s attending physician approved the local detective’s request to seek a statement. They, along with Elizabeth and Scotty, were allowed in his room. They each had to wear the protective garb to prevent spreading any infections.

Franco saw the group entering his room and thought they looked like four aliens were descending upon him. Maybe the decreasing doses of morphine were influencing his thoughts. The ICU itself seemed surreal with the consistent noise from his monitors and the equipment used for other nearby patients. The smell of antiseptic stung his nostrils. The fluorescent lighting cast strange shadows that he watched when he was alone. He looked for objects and patterns as if the shadows were like clouds against a bright blue sky. 

Elizabeth kissed his forehead and once more told him how grateful she was to have him back. Her presence was comforting.

“Hey,” Franco said to Scotty, relieved to see his dad. “You look tired,” he observed, concerned that Scotty was going to make himself sick by trying to take care of him.

“And you are in the ICU and look like hell.” It was his own way of saying _Nice to see you, too._

“Thank you,” Franco reached out to Scotty.

Scotty was not keen on hugging or physical contact, but he was gracious and let Franco take his hand for a moment. His high-strung artistic son was always more demonstrative with affection than he had ever been. He was relieved to have _this_ person back in place of the cold and distant Drew personality. Future hugs were a small price to pay for having his son back. “What are you thanking me for?”

“You fought to save me. I’m…” he struggled to find exactly the right word.

“Surprised?” Scotty asked, always unsure if Franco would ever believe that he truly cared about him.

“Well, yeah. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to having a father who gives a damn. You show me over and over, but I still expect you to get tired of me and give up.”

Scotty smiled, though it was a bittersweet smile. Lee Baldwin was paying him back in spades from beyond the grave. “You’re me and I’m now my dad. I hope I don’t have to die for you to reflect and realize…” he stopped himself. He wasn’t going to get mushy about it.

“That you _loooooove_ me?” Franco asked, prolonging the word for humorous emphasis.

“Don’t push it, kid.”

“You’re a good dad.” He let it drop, not wanting to make his father more uncomfortable than he already was.

“Detective Chase and Detective Sullivan would like to get a formal statement from you,” Elizabeth explained after giving Franco a moment to reconnect with Scotty. “Do you think you can answer some questions.”

Images flashed through his memory. They were fragmented, tossed between himself and Drew, peaks into a situation where his health declined, time stood still and jumped forward, and his mind and body were being held hostage by separate entities. “No one is going to believe me.”

Elizabeth frowned recognizing the words Jim Harvey drilled into his mind. “You didn’t put yourself in ICU,” she reminded him.

“I had two personalities in my head jostling for control. I’m going to sound crazier than Kim.”

Elizabeth softly sighed with relief that he was referring to his unprecedented memory transfer instead of his traumatic past.

“Son, don’t worry about how your statement sounds or how someone else might perceive your sanity. Your statement will help the DA solidify what charges they file against Kim Nero. If there’s a trial, Andre Maddox, the Swedish Freak, and anyone else involved in the procedure will be summoned to discuss the _how’s_ and _why’s_ of your brain…. issues.”

Elizabeth gave Scott a slight nod, grateful to him for explaining how the DA would have to approach understanding Franco’s statement.

“If you can just tell us what you remember, it’s up to us to make the case—not you,” Detective Sullivan added.

“Just start at the beginning,” Chase suggested. “Sullivan will record your statement and have a written transcript made from it.”

Franco exhaled. “Drew was staying at the Quartermaine estate, but he didn’t want to be around people. I could hear music from the party. Then I was in moving car. I didn’t know what happened. I can’t remember everything that happened with Drew. Neither one of us could move and there was a blanket or something over my body so I couldn’t see anything. There were two men in the front of the car. They didn’t say much, but there were two voices.” He scanned the faces in the room to see if they appeared to doubt him yet.

He continued. “There’s a lot of time I can’t account for… I think. It feels like it’s been a long time. Kim wouldn’t let me know what day it was, what time it was. I couldn’t hear or see anything from outside to know where I was. Every time I made her angry, she would knock me out with a shot or the chloroform.” Burning pain shot through his body every time he moved his weakened arms and legs or turned his head from one side to another. The muscles that had been frozen in place were trying to wake up.

“Did you make her angry often?” Sullivan interrupted.

“Every time I woke up. I _wanted_ to make her angry so I could get out of there—one way or another.”

“What do you remember about the location?”

“I can only guess that it was a cabin in a remote area. I never saw outside. I was restrained to a bed. I tried to break myself free, but I couldn’t.” He looked at the bruises and abrasions on his arms. “I asked her to let me go. I told her she was crazy. I told her I didn’t want to be with her, and I didn’t want to,” his face crinkled with disgust. “I told her I didn’t want to make a baby with her. She’s obsessed with the idea of replacing Oscar.” He shook his head. “She wouldn’t accept that I’m not Drew or that Drew only existed because of a medical anomaly. The baby wouldn’t be Drew’s biological child.”

He took a deep breath. No one appeared shocked or appalled by what he was saying and that made it easier to say. He had to assume there was enough physical evidence at the cabin to indicate sexual assault.

“I don’t think I ate while I was there. She was going to make some breakfast, but she was torturing me with bad music and… I went off on her about the crap she was playing, so she knocked me out again.”

“Did she use any other kind of torture?” Sullivan interrupted. _Torture_ wasn’t a word to be ignored given the circumstances.

“It was Extreme,” he answered.

“How extreme?”

“The _band_ Extreme.”

“Oh!” Sullivan understood.

“I think that qualifies as psychological warfare. She deliberately made sure I couldn’t become oriented to time. And the physical stuff…”

“Can you elaborate?”

“She let me drink some water. She forced me to take pills. I couldn’t defend myself and she forced pills into my mouth and held my nose and mouth so I couldn’t breathe until I swallowed the damn things.” He had a vague flash of memory. “I would have refused to breathe if I could have, but it’s impossible to refuse to breathe. I think I bit her trying to defend myself.”

Elizabeth clenched her fists, anger flooding through her entire body. He would rather have died than been in that cabin with that demented hag.

“Do you know what kind of medication she gave you?” Sullivan asked.

“She gave me shots and made me take pills, but I have no idea what it was. I started having fever and chills. She had antibiotics, but I was allergic to what she brought. She accused me of lying so she would take me to a clinic. She thought I was trying to escape. She forced me to swallow the antibiotics that I knew were dangerous.”

“That sounds like attempted murder to me,” Scotty interjected. With solid evidence to convict, Kim Nero would never be free again.

Franco was increasingly uncomfortable as he had flashes of memories of Kim using his body. “Everything is fuzzy. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You said she was obsessed with the idea of conceiving a child,” Detective Sullivan reminded him. “Did she force you to have sexual intercourse with her?”

He was silent, not that he refused to answer, but that he couldn’t get the word to leave his mouth. He nodded.

“Can you say your answer out loud for the recorder?”

He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. “Yes.”

He looked at Elizabeth. “It’s okay,” she told him.

“I apologize, but I have to ask if you can describe anything that happened while she assaulted you.”

The question required digging too deeply into his memories and he deflected. “I already have. She kept me drugged and unconscious most of the time. I was naked and immobilized. She talked about our past and our future—none of which was real or possible. I don’t know how long she planned to keep me there. My memories are sporadic.”

“Is there any possibility you were dreaming?”

Franco’s eyes darkened. The officer had all but just asked him if he were lying. It made him angry. He clenched his teeth for a moment, holding back responding immediately.

Elizabeth squeezed his hand and he relaxed.

“You know what? I might have been dreaming. I can’t swear that anything I’m telling you is real because my brain got fried and then I was drugged into oblivion. So, I guess if you’re trying to make a case, you’re going to have to use physical evidence. It’s apparent that I am not a competent witness.” With that, he ended his statement.

  
“Mr. Baldwin, I did not mean to offend you with the question. I have to ask because our DA will ask, and the defense attorney will ask.”

Scotty caught Elizabeth’s eye. They both knew that Franco had shut down the interview. “Maybe that should have been your first question,” Scotty told Sullivan. “You just blew a cannonball through the statement you wanted.”   
  


“I don’t mean to be insensitive,” Sullivan clarified. “I know this is difficult to speak about.”

“I don’t think you _do_ know,” Elizabeth snapped at her. “He’s not well physically. I knew this was a bad idea. Take your forensic report and leave.”

“I feel sick,” Franco muttered. There was a knot in his stomach and his head was spinning. A chill raced over his body. He reached for the bed railing, hoping to free himself from his current cage.

In a swift motion, Elizabeth grabbed a bedpan and held it for her husband who began dry heaving. She rubbed his back while the spasms shook through him and brushed his hair back when he collapsed onto his pillow.

Chase offered a wet towel that he scrambled to get from the bathroom.

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said. She dabbed the cloth over her husband’s face. “Better?” she asked.

He nodded.

Chase, who had darted back to the bathroom, returned with another wet towel.

Elizabeth appreciated his effort. She pressed the fresh cloth against Franco’s forehead. “Scott, will you find some crackers and ginger ale?” she asked.

“Thank you,” Franco whispered to her.

“You may be at that point where you need something solid in your stomach to keep from getting sick. Or the pain medication might be making you nauseated.” He drank a few sips of chicken broth earlier. Otherwise, he was getting nutrients intravenously.

He nodded.

Elizabeth looked up and Chase had both crackers and ginger ale. He ran the errand in place of Scotty, who was standing to the side looking both worried and a little sick himself.

Elizabeth poured some of the soda into a cup and offered it to Franco with a straw. He took a sip and settled back to see if he could keep it down. He looked at Chase. “You’d make a great golden retriever.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Chase grinned. “I think we’ve worn out our welcome,” he told Sullivan, who agreed.

“I hope you’re better soon,” Sullivan told him. “Again, I apologize if my questions were offensive to you.”

He nodded but didn’t waste his energy with a verbal response.

When just Elizabeth and Scotty were left in his room, Franco said to them both, “I just want to go home.”


	11. Chapter 11

After nine days in the New Hampshire hospital, Franco got his wish to go home. He was both eager and anxious about returning to his _normal_ life. Whether things would ever really be normal was yet to be determined.

Elizabeth unlocked the door to their home and turned the knob.

“Wait a second,” Franco took her arm and stopped her from going inside.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, eager to get inside from the cold air. In a matter of seconds, her mind was whirring with potential reasons he might give to stay away.

Franco pulled her close in a hug. “I love you so much,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

Elizabeth yelped with surprise when her husband picked her up. She put her arms around his neck. “I don’t think you should do any heavy lifting yet.”

Her concern was warranted. She had witnessed the way he winced in pain when he moved and his restless sleep. While sleeping, his limbs often jerked as though an electric current had gone through him. When he was awake, he insisted he was fine and clenched his jaw when the pains jolted his body.

An attending physician had prescribed physical therapy to restore strength and mobility. Elizabeth would contact Epiphany to set up some home-based therapy through the hospital’s PT department.

“You’re not heavy,” he laughed, pushing the unlocked door open with his foot. He stepped inside, carrying her over the threshold.

As soon as the door swung open, they were greeted with a boisterous exclamation of “Welcome Home” from their closest friends and family. Scotty, Liesl, Laura, Kevin, Lulu, some guy with Lulu that Franco didn’t recognize, Ava, Hayden, Finn, Terry, Epiphany, Nina, Jax, Diane, Joss, and Trina were all in their living room, along with their boys Cameron, Jake, and Aiden.

Feeling a bit embarrassed that his romantic gesture had witnesses, Franco let his wife slide to her feet. “Did you know about this?”

“I swear, I didn’t.”

They both took off their coats and Elizabeth laid them on the back of a nearby chair. She took his hand, feeling very protective and possessive of him. She wasn’t quite ready to share him with a crowd yet. She suspected Hayden had thrown the party together to welcome them home based on who was present.

“Hewwo! I’m Violet.”

Franco looked down and saw an adorable little girl with long blond hair. He had no idea who she was.

“Hi, Violet,” he said.

She threw her arms around his leg, hugging him. “We’re so happy you’re home.”

“I’m happy to be home,” he told Violet. He looked at Elizabeth. “How long was I gone?”

Hayden and Elizabeth both laughed. “Violet is your niece,” Hayden explained. “She’s my daughter. And Finn’s.” She glanced at Finn, longing for what Elizabeth had with Franco.

“I’ve never been an uncle before,” he told Violet. “Are you going to help me learn how to be a good one?”

“You’ll be a good one,” Violet assured him. “My cousins think you’re awesome, so I know I will too. Mommy said you can help me learn to color inside the lines.”

“Oh, sweetheart, _never_ stay inside the lines. In fact, don’t use lines at all—if you don’t want to.” Franco felt gobsmacked. Life had gone on while he was in a false reality. “It’s nice to see you, Hayden.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” Hayden gave him a quick hug. “Because we live here now. Violet and I, I mean.” She clarified herself, less he asked if Finn lived with them. That would be awkward.

“And the surprises keep coming,” he turned to Elizabeth who shrugged. With Hayden and Finn “figuring things out,” she had not mentioned the situation to Franco. She spent the time in the hospital intent on keeping his stress level to a minimum so that he could heal more quickly.

“I see you have your strength back,” Scotty quipped, reaching out to clap his son’s shoulder. He recognized that the welcome home party might have been infringing on Elizabeth’s plans to welcome her husband home.

“Working on it,” Franco smiled at his dad. He felt a tug on his shirt tail and saw Violet looking at him expectantly.

“Uncle Fwanco?”

“Yes?”

“I love my cousins, but can I have a giwl cousin, please? I asked Mommy, but she said that was up to Auntie ‘Lizabeth and you.”

“Um, working on it,” he shrugged, looking to Elizabeth.

He stooped to the floor to take both Aiden and Jake into a firm, loving hug. They had been not so patiently waiting while Violet made her presence known. “My boys,” he said, holding them close. “I missed you so much.”

“We missed you too,” Jake replied enthusiastically. “Grandma took us to New Hampshire to see you in the hospital, but we couldn’t go to the ICU. And mom wouldn’t let us miss school to stay.”

“That’s because you have the best mom in the world,” Franco let them go and stood up. “Did you keep making cookies while I was… away?” he asked Aiden.

“I learned lots of new recipes,” Aiden answered. “I can roast a pheasant and make a torte. I made a lemon torte for today.”

“That sounds delicious,” he said, encouraging Aiden to keep pursuing his hobby. He glanced toward the kitchen and saw that the counter was filled with party snacks.

“We’ve been eating like the royal family,” Elizabeth chimed in. The truth was, she had barely been eating at all. She never discouraged Aiden from occupying his time or his mind with cooking though. Cam and Jake reaped the benefits.

Cam was waiting. He and Franco said nothing but embraced each other, a newfound understanding between them.

“What you did, taking Cam’s place… that was pretty cool,” Trina told him. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Cam was so upset,” Joss added. “You’re like totally the biggest hero in Port Charles. They should give you a medal for 2019 Citizen of the Year or something,” she added.

Franco laughed, thinking about that ridiculous blue ribbon that Jordan had given him in a token gesture after she nearly got him killed. He could live without that kind of recognition. He just wanted to have a quiet life with his family.

“So, yeah, maybe Cam will stop being so emo,” Trina added.

“Trina!” Cam snapped at her. “I’m not emo.”

“You’re totally emo,” Joss agreed with her best friend.

Liesl approached him.

He put his hands in front of his face, “Don’t hit me!” They both laughed then embraced. “You’re a good friend, Liesl.”

“Which is why I tried to slap the Drew out of you the last time I saw you.”

“Thanks for trying,” he offered.

“Anytime.”

He continued to go through what felt like a receiving line and Elizabeth broke away to speak to some of the friends who were there more for her sake, such as Jax and Finn. The sooner everyone had been properly greeted and thanked for any support they gave, the sooner they would all leave.

“I’m glad I have the chance to tell you I was wrong,” Ava grasped his hands. “You don’t need a second chance to be a better person. You already had that chance, and you took advantage of it to the fullest. I was jealous that you forgot your pain over losing Kiki. I didn’t consider that you’d also lost your memories of how much you loved her and how much she loved you.” They hugged, each tearing up with memories of _their_ Kiki.

“I told Drew, Real Drew, that one day the memories of how much I loved her would be stronger than the pain of losing her. I’m not there yet and neither are you.” He kissed the top of her head. “Someday.”

The sound of a cork popping caught the attention of the party guests. Scotty was trying to move things along, which his son and daughter-in-law appreciated. He poured two flutes of champagne.

He gave one to Elizabeth and when Franco reached for the other, he kept it. “This isn’t for you. No more mind altering anything. Ever. That’s an order.” He clinked his glass with Elizabeth’s. “To valiant efforts to save our family.”

Elizabeth laughed, enjoying Scotty’s humor. They had certainly fought a hard battle to get to this day.

“Did he just scold me?” Franco asked Laura who was standing close by.

She nodded. “I believe he did.” She was happy for Scott. She knew he was lonely. She knew he sincerely loved his son, even if he had a hard time showing it. She was also happy for Elizabeth and her grandchildren. “Thank you for making this family whole,” she kissed his cheek. “Joss was right. You do deserve Citizen of the Year.” She saw the horrified expression on his face. “But I’ll keep that just between us.”

“Okay, everybody, no need to let all this food sit here. Let’s eat!” Kevin announced, uncovering the centerpiece lemon torte Aiden had made.

“Wait,” Cameron interrupted. “I have something for you,” he told Franco. He looked at his mom and Scotty. There was a shirt-sized box on the dining table that was wrapped in white and silver paper with an elaborate blue ribbon. Cam presented the box to Franco. “I hope you like it,” he said. He sounded unsure.

“I don’t need a present, I just need my family.”

“Open it,” Elizabeth encouraged him.

Franco ripped off the ribbon and the paper and took the lid off the box. He stared at the contents. “This is from you” he asked Cam. His voice was shaking.

Cam pulled a pen out of his blue jeans’ pocket. “Blue ink,” he said. “Gotta make it official.” He saw Franco was blinking back tears. “I mean, if you want to.”

Franco took the pen and hastily signed his name at the bottom of the document which was already signed by Elizabeth, Cameron, and Diane. Laura not so subtly reached for the document, stamped it with a Notary of the Public seal and signed it as well. Now Franco understood how Diane had gotten invited to the party. Scotty roped her into drafting the adoption papers because it involved his own family.

“What is it?” Joss asked, standing near Cameron, trying to get a better look.

Cameron hugged Franco tightly. “I love you, Dad.”

Franco said nothing, overwhelmed with his emotions. He returned the hug from his son—officially his now.

“I’m jumping ahead of you both on the alphabetical list at school,” Cam told Joss after he and Franco broke their hug.

“What?” she asked, not quite following.

“I’m Cameron Baldwin now. I just got adopted.” His best friends congratulated him.

“That’s so sweet,” Joss gushed with approval. 

“You’re secretly a big pile of mush, you know that, Emo Baldwin?” Trina teased.

The partygoers were moved by the gesture. They were all well aware of the sacrifice Franco had made to save Cameron. It was somehow beautifully fulfilling to see the two of them as more than just stepfamily now.

Sensing the heavy emotional weight of the moment, Finn attempted a joke to lighten things up. “Lucky for you, your kid takes after his mother.”

“Even luckier for you that yours does.” Franco countered.

Finn looked momentarily insulted, but he laughed it off. “I guess we both got lucky.”

“Your kid _is_ adorable,” Franco told him.

“Yours is too.”

“Oh, god,” Cameron groaned, embarrassed. “Can we just eat now?” He had considered saving the adoption papers for a private conversation, but decided that he wanted Franco to know he would be proud to be his son and the best way to do that would be to make the gesture in front of everyone who mattered to them.

“I second that,” Scotty said, again trying to move the party along. “The happy family should go first.”

“Nah,” Franco told him, standing back, embracing his wife. “I just want to enjoy this moment a while longer. You go ahead.”

Cam decided to lead the way. “Come on, Grandpa,” he gave Scotty a slight push.

“That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“It sounds perfect to me,” Elizabeth said. She looked at her house full of people, her sons, her sister, her niece, and her husband. This was as perfect a moment as one could ever have in Port Charles. She and Franco would savor this moment together and recall it for many years to come.

\--End


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